Aparajita Das 
Pakistan embassy in Kabul has unveiled details of the new liberal visa policy for Afghan nationals
The Pakistan embassy in Kabul and its consulates in Afghanistan have introduced a number of key measures with the aim of facilitating the movement of Afghan nations to Pakistan. In line with the directives of the Pakistan government, the embassy has implemented a new liberal visa policy for Afghan nationals. As per reports, the new visa policy was enacted by the authorities on September 29, 2020, in letter and spirit.
Pakistan embassy in Kabul on Tuesday issued a statement, sharing details of the new measures introduced by the authorities to enable visa processing of thousands of Afghan nations for Pakistan:
The Pakistan government has increased the number of windows for the collection of visa application forms from 7 to 17 in a bid to boost the capacity of the process.
Pakistan embassy in Kabul and its Consulates in Kandahar, Jalalabad, and Mazar-e-Sharif have introduced online visa/E-visa for Afghan nationals to facilitate a 24/7 online visa application process from the website visa.nadra.gov.pk.
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Separate windows have been designated for female applicants, students, business people, and those applying for medical treatment.
Students are been given visas for the entire duration of their education programmes in Pakistan.
As per the statement, Pakistan authorities have issued 150,000 visas in October and November 2020 alone after the implementation of these new measures. In addition, the embassy in Kabul has issued approximately 12,000 online e-visas in the past six weeks.
The statement also highlighted that visas are being provided to Afghan nationals without any fee, except for businessmen. In this regard, the Pakistan embassy in Kabul and its consulates in Herat, Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Mazar-e-Sharif have advised Afghan nationals not to pay any charges or fees to agents or middlemen for the visa process, confirming that there is no visa agent for the embassy.
“The Embassy and our Consulates will continue to process visas of Afghan nationals in a dignified and honourable way,” the statement read.
In conclusion, the Pakistan embassy extended gratitude to Afghan authorities for their assistance in the management of the process of visa applications on a daily basis.
